Holy Thursday 2008
As we gather this evening we have two right things in front of us
we have the sacrament.. this Holy food....
Sacramental bread
and a story ...and we also have a sacred story.
They ..of course,,, go together....
It reminds me of another story about bread and stories.
a true story...
It was During WW2 in a Nazi labor camp,
concentration camp......
the prisoners
were packed into tents
with a few hundred people
in every tent
I cant imagine what the conditions were like
and Every morning, the prisoners would come out of those tents
and they would be marched out for another day of hard labor.
When they got back in the evening,
they gave out the food rations
but they only gave food to the prisoners who had worked that day
of course
it wasn’t much
thin soup
and some stale bread.
Now of course
with such poor nutrition,
prisoners usually got sick.
It barely kept them alive and sometimes it just was not enough
But still
If you did not walk out from your tent
for that days work,
if you did not work
you got no food at all that evening,
and soon that person
would die of starvation.
The food was so scarce
that they had this unwritten rule
don’t share your food..
The evening food rations ....just could not be shared
– it was everyone for himself or herself.
So Every tent got into this horrible rhythm of work,
starvation and death.
But now the people in this one tent
had a story teller in there group
every night they also got into the rythymn of listening to this old women
who told them stories
the would huddle together
they would hold their meager rations in their hands.
and listen to her stories.
But one morning
they woke up
to find
that their storyteller was sick.
They left her in the tent that morning,
they knew what this would mean
would she even make it through the day?
But then
That night
the people in this tent broke the pattern
they did something different
and one by one
they broke off a little piece of their own stale bread
and gave a drop or two
of their soup
and they shared with the old story teller.
And she told them stories.
The next night,
the same thing,
they shared what little they had with the old story teller
and she kept telling them those life giving stories.
Soon
the people in that tent decided
that the old storyteller
just should not go out and work anymore.
They would..work all together
to guard her health
they would all share their food rations with her.
From that day on,
until the war ended
and the camp got liberated
there were no more deaths
from starvation in that tent that had the storyteller
now of course people still died
starvation was not the only horrible thing that happened in that labor camp
but in that tent
nobody else died of starvation,
and most of them lived and survived the war.’
That’s the story
and it true
its true in many ways
Now,
I could let you think about the story and find your own meaning but let me point you into a few directions
in some ways that story is like us
Here we are in our tent,
certainly not in the misery of a concentration camp
I don’t mean to compare us. Tot hat.. Or minimize the horror of that setting..
But
we also live in a world
where selfishness and work and sickness and death...can get to be the pattern of existence.. Just look out for yourself.
except that we also have something different going on in our tent..
We have a story teller
and we have stories
we have stories that bring us together
and keep us alive
this week
the story is bringing us together
It is story of a crowd that shouts hosanna to Jesus
it the story of a different kind of power and authority making an entrance into our lives
it is the story of a last supper..
it the story of a crowd that shouts Crucify him
it is the story of a selfless life
and a sacrifice
it is the story of a divine power
that forgives us
and it forgive us from the cross
when we are at our worse
when the injustice is at its worst
when faith had died
and betrayal and denial has gone to work
but it is also this story of an undying power
and undefeatable love
it is the death and rising of Jesus Christ
it is our story//
and in that sacred story of Jesus Christ there is also the sharing of food..
This is my body this is my blood
the bread and the cup..
And we too come with that food and the story and the story teller
is there enough to share
.is it mine and only mine
to keep it for myself
and we discover that there is enough to share..
Love to share. .grace to share..
Does that change you..?
We do not have to protect or hoard this bread of life
It creates
the community of sharing
..and it makes life different in this tent of faith
and in this world
we share the forgiveness
yes we protect the story
by keeping it alive.. We believe it.. We tell it..
we share the possibilities
we share the vision
we share..
and because we learn to share and to give..
in light of the story
no body goes hungry anymore..
The law of selfishness gets broken.
Life gets changed because we come to the story
there is an old song
I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love..
Come tonight as we in this gospel tent
the old revival tent....I suppose
or you can call it,
story tellers tent..
Share the food.. ...and live.
This is how survive.
. This is how we live the bread of life
by .the WORD of God
Source Mircea Eliade by way of David Mesenbring SEE
(the St. Mark’s website: http://saintmarks.org/)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Easter 2008 Christ is Risen
I used to spend quite a bit of time
trying to come up with just the right sermon title for Easter Sunday
I wanted to be creative and clever or maybe sophisticated or philosophical
just something .. to get your attention somehow.
.(.its not like you have never heard this Easter thing before)
but I don’t do the fancy sermon titles anymore.....
All I have to say is this : Christ is Risen!
and honestly even though I do love the whole Easter crowd experience
if I had my way
..instead of doing this whole preaching thing to a large group at once
or whole congregation
I would like to do this ..as a pastor....in more pastoral kind of way
I would like to get personal..
Maybe more like that first Easter morning was... almost 2000 years ago
this didn’t start off with a crowd ..there was no preacher with a congregation at the first Easter
in the Bible it started off with one or two people
John’s Easter gospel says it was just Mary Magdalene at first
and she thinks she is talking to the gardener..
And then the Easter recognition moment happens
when Jesus says to her "Mary"
Jesus said her name .
Hear that?.. .the Risen Christ. Got personal.. ..by name
Or here in Matthew
this morning
its just a couple a of women who get the news at the tomb.
.and then later
they are supposed to tell the disciples
but Jesus appears to just the two of them
,but it starts off small and personal....
One or two or three people at a time
if I could this morning
I would do Easter like that..
I would go around to each one of you....
one at a time ....face to face
and we would look each other in the eyes
for a moment of silence
we wouldn’t go too fast
take our time and
..maybe we could hold hands
and look at each other.
And maybe I would know something about the ups and downs in your life.
The hard times and the pain...your hopes and your dreams,
.it would be kind of a prayer time
...a personal liturgy
looking at each other
and I would say your name like this
I would say Charles. Or Beth.. (Or Sandy or Jean)
"Christ is risen... "and then after a little bit
you would say my name too
Rory ..."Christ is risen"
..Christ is risen. Indeed
I wish I could do that.
It suppose it would take all morning
But I want you to have that moment... to hear that word personally..
Christ is risen.
But
I cant do it that way..
we don’t have all morning..
so will you help me?
can we do that with each other
kind of a liturgy
I know you already did an Easter greeting this morning..
but this one is a little different
Don’t leave anybody out
you can say this to more than one person
Turn to somebody around you ...and say there name..
It can be family or it can be somebody you don’t know..
If you don’t know who they are
.ask them...
say there name
look them in the eye ..if you want to hold their hand that’s fine..
If you know anything about their life..
then think about that ,, for a moment..see the perosn in front of you,
what are they going through
what’s going on in their life
But look them in the eyes
and say that word of hope and presence
that word of healing and light
that world of life
the word of rising..
Christ is Risen
.and then wait until they say it back to you.
Christ is Risen
.don’t rush now
but let s do it.
I know we are in Minnesota and we are Methodists
and you want to be anonymous.
I know ...we don’t normally get that personal in worship
.and its disorganized and noisy
but hey
its Easter.. And we’ve got to say it.
This is sacred conversation
Go and do this now..
..................................
All done..?
I suppose we could just sing the Hallelujah chorus and go home now?.
But let me say a little more to all of us together
what did we just do?
what is the power of that of Easter message
what did you here?
Why do we come here at all.
What were you looking for?
Why does this touch us..?
Why is the church and Christianity even here?
How about this:---- in some deep way
we know...that this is just so true.
You cant get at it .rationally or scientifically.
.but it has
truth..
you know there is some spiritual power in that message
I think you’re here
because you really want to believe it somehow
it calls you
and you want it to get inside of you
and you want it to change you
you need this message of life and hope.
somehow you want it ...to raise you up.....
And that’s right
it’s the right desire....so pay attention to it.
Some of the great spiritual leaders of the church
called it the deepest desire.
.the holy hunger inside of you..
And Easter ...can take you to that spiritual life force.
If you look at how the early Church understood the resurrection
.they saw it as a renewing..and world changing power.
It was not just an idea or a creed
It was a spiritual reality
.Divine power. Life in Christ..the redemptive power..salvation was at work..
it is something
that still goes to work in us
the work in Christ.
it is the overturing of sin and death.
.in all its forms.
it changes us..
somehow
it raises us up also
Christ is also risen in us..
st Paul says in Colosians 3
that we too
are raised with him now.. to a new kind of life
This is not just a Holiday
or just a doctrine ..for the afterlife
but it is the redeemed life.. ..working in us..now....for this life..
..
it is the heavenly power to live
in a new way.
.it is a sprit of Christ..that is still alive
(are you with me?)
it is something to live by..
Easter is our way of Living in Jesus Christ.
* A heard a story about a teenager named Marcia
when she was young Marcia loved to dance.
So When Marcia was sixteen
her parents gave her dance lessons at the Martha Graham Dance Studio
in New York City.
Now this was a big thing..
If you don’t know who Martha Graham, was
she was a creative pioneer
maybe you could call her the Picasso of the dance world
she introduced a whole new style of contemporary dance
Anyway
Marcia’s parents signed her up for lessons
three nights a week.
One night
when Marcia going was going to her class,
she opened up the door,
but it was the wrong door,
so when she looked in
she could see these very professional dancers
they were dancing at a very high level of mastery.
She realized,
this was Martha Graham's personal company.
This was the top class and the inner circle of it all.
It was wonderful.
Her heart was pounding just to see this and be that close
so She decided to stay
just inside the door
and watch.
Two nights later when she went to her class,
she said to herself,
"I wonder?"
She opened up the same wrong door and she found that same company in there dancing again.
This time she snuck into the back of the room
just to watch.
But As they went through their dance routines,
she started to move with them
as they were practicing.
Week after week,
that is what she did,
she didn’t tell anybody
She cut off her leotard at the ankle
just like they did;
for weeks in a row
she danced at the back of the room
no one said anything to her
But one night
while they were in the middle of rehearsal
the door to the middle of the room opened
and in walked Martha Graham herself.
She was dressed in purple except for some long white gloves
She looked at the dancers and said,
"Group in threes and move across the floor.
Show me your exercises."
Marcia just stared at Martha Graham. This was like seeing the Wizard of Oz.
And the next moment
all of a sudden she realized
that every dancer was now on the other side of the room,
and she was all alone
and visible.
Martha Graham looked at her,
and of course
Martha Graham knew she did not have a sixteen year old in her company.
But she
said to her,
"Move across the floor.
Do the exercises."
Marcia thought to herself,
"I have two choices.
I can say,
‘I can't do this
I'm a fraud.
I’m just a kid;
can't you tell I'm just a kid?
I can't do this;
I'm sorry;
I've lied by being in here;
I'll apologize;
I'll get my parents to reimburse anything;
but I can't,
I'm a fake. I'm out of here.’"
Or,
she thought to herself,
I could reach deep down inside of me,
and with everything I am,
I could live this moment.
I could just dance.
I could just become dance."
She decided to dance
She said that to this day
she still does not
remember crossing that room.
But the experience
was like
being ...a beam of
light.
Everything in her
was living her life
at that moment
-- the melody was carrying her, the love was carrying her.
She trusted the power and the movement of the dance
She got to the other side of the room,
and she remembered again
how afraid she was.
The dancers were positioned there
like dancers stand,
one hand on a hip,
so she got behind another dancer
she was wondering what was going to happen next.
And what she saw
was the finger of Martha Graham
beckoning her to come
to her.
This young woman stood before Martha Graham.
Years later
she remembered what Martha Graham said.
Martha Graham looked her right in the eye
and she said,
'Young woman.
There is no reason to live any moment of your
life
other than the way
you just crossed that floor."
Well ...that is also the story of our faith..
That is also the invitation of the resurrection
God is calling us to live this moment...
with everything we are.
We have been taken into a new dance company
so to speak..a new community..a new school ..a new Way...this Jesus Way
so now
Le the dance of resurrection fill you
go ahead and trust the Gospel of life
and move across the floor
Yes I know
can stay in the corner
locked in our fear
or we can live life
in hope,
carried
by love.
We can believe what we hear
Our Scripture said this morning that
the women ran from the tomb
with fear and great joy.
Filled with fear and with joy.
That is how life is,
isn’t it?
And there is plenty of things that would keep us afraid
I Don’t KNOW WHAT KEEPS you or a church
hiding AGAINST THE WALL....
.instead of moving out across the dance floor
it might be the cancer or some illness
maybe the economy
or the war ..or the news.
or the mortgage ..
or the school situation.
.
or the trouble at home.
.I don’t know
tombs come in a lot of ways..
Fear is always around..
But Resurrection happens.
In the Scripture this morning the angel says to the women,
"He is going before you to Galilee,... there you will see him."
Its as if
the angels
are saying to those women and to the disciples..
and to us..
go and move across the floor.
The invitation..
the call..the beckoning... is given
but You Make the decision .
.you can say
I don’t really belong here..
This is not for me.
I don’t deserve it..
and I cant trust this..
Or
you
take that leap of faith.
Again and again
.you can want it..and try it..
you can believe this ..
maybe that too
is a mixture of both fear and joy!
It sounds too good to be true..
.but .go back on the road..
..the scripture is saying
.go out there
and he will be there..
the gospel says
He will be there
and he will meet you
trust it
in verse 10
Jesus says it so clearly
Do not be afraid
maybe that is the mysterious power that pulls us here..
every year
and every Sunday
..the Easter Gospel
do not be afraid
do not be afraid of death
do not be afraid of the enemy
do not be afraid of your failure
do not be afraid of your shame
do not be afraid of your weakness
do not be afraid of the future..
do not be afraid..
of Gods love. and the vision of True Life.
move out of the fear.
.and move
more and more..into the joy of the dance
(Remember last week the choir sang.. Lord of the dance..)
And the dance goes on..
Christ is Risen
the impossible is happening
that means that you ..and
this church
can dream
and you can change
you can be more courageous
you can be more forgiving and joyful
you can be more graceful
you can be more generous.
you can be more prayerful and faithful.
.we can be peacemakers
and we can be people of the Risen Christ.
We can be the church
we can dance this life of incredible Love
ok
I know ..like Marcia in the back of the dance room
maybe you need to watch for awhile..
Learn a few moves..
Try it out. Imitate it ..
and be around out
..just be amazed to see what it can do..
But eventually.
.maybe right now..in some way
you can let it actually move you
..move us..carry us... inspire us
And there is absolutely no reason for you personally
..and for this congregation
to Not move ...faithfully....and joyfully
across the dance floor..of life
Jesus said do not be afraid.
Christ is risen...say it now..
Maybe this is the fist dance step..
Say Christ is Risen again..but this time..
say out loud to yourself
say it with your name...in the sentence..say it to your self..
as if God is saying it to you..
Rory
Christ is risen
Say it out loud.. All together with your own name it
....that was your invitation to dance
* The source for Martha Graham dance story is Martie McMane, senior pastor at First UCC in Boulder Colorado ..from one of her sermons printed on their website.www.firstcong.net. She says it was told to her by a friend. . I have adapted it.
I used to spend quite a bit of time
trying to come up with just the right sermon title for Easter Sunday
I wanted to be creative and clever or maybe sophisticated or philosophical
just something .. to get your attention somehow.
.(.its not like you have never heard this Easter thing before)
but I don’t do the fancy sermon titles anymore.....
All I have to say is this : Christ is Risen!
and honestly even though I do love the whole Easter crowd experience
if I had my way
..instead of doing this whole preaching thing to a large group at once
or whole congregation
I would like to do this ..as a pastor....in more pastoral kind of way
I would like to get personal..
Maybe more like that first Easter morning was... almost 2000 years ago
this didn’t start off with a crowd ..there was no preacher with a congregation at the first Easter
in the Bible it started off with one or two people
John’s Easter gospel says it was just Mary Magdalene at first
and she thinks she is talking to the gardener..
And then the Easter recognition moment happens
when Jesus says to her "Mary"
Jesus said her name .
Hear that?.. .the Risen Christ. Got personal.. ..by name
Or here in Matthew
this morning
its just a couple a of women who get the news at the tomb.
.and then later
they are supposed to tell the disciples
but Jesus appears to just the two of them
,but it starts off small and personal....
One or two or three people at a time
if I could this morning
I would do Easter like that..
I would go around to each one of you....
one at a time ....face to face
and we would look each other in the eyes
for a moment of silence
we wouldn’t go too fast
take our time and
..maybe we could hold hands
and look at each other.
And maybe I would know something about the ups and downs in your life.
The hard times and the pain...your hopes and your dreams,
.it would be kind of a prayer time
...a personal liturgy
looking at each other
and I would say your name like this
I would say Charles. Or Beth.. (Or Sandy or Jean)
"Christ is risen... "and then after a little bit
you would say my name too
Rory ..."Christ is risen"
..Christ is risen. Indeed
I wish I could do that.
It suppose it would take all morning
But I want you to have that moment... to hear that word personally..
Christ is risen.
But
I cant do it that way..
we don’t have all morning..
so will you help me?
can we do that with each other
kind of a liturgy
I know you already did an Easter greeting this morning..
but this one is a little different
Don’t leave anybody out
you can say this to more than one person
Turn to somebody around you ...and say there name..
It can be family or it can be somebody you don’t know..
If you don’t know who they are
.ask them...
say there name
look them in the eye ..if you want to hold their hand that’s fine..
If you know anything about their life..
then think about that ,, for a moment..see the perosn in front of you,
what are they going through
what’s going on in their life
But look them in the eyes
and say that word of hope and presence
that word of healing and light
that world of life
the word of rising..
Christ is Risen
.and then wait until they say it back to you.
Christ is Risen
.don’t rush now
but let s do it.
I know we are in Minnesota and we are Methodists
and you want to be anonymous.
I know ...we don’t normally get that personal in worship
.and its disorganized and noisy
but hey
its Easter.. And we’ve got to say it.
This is sacred conversation
Go and do this now..
..................................
All done..?
I suppose we could just sing the Hallelujah chorus and go home now?.
But let me say a little more to all of us together
what did we just do?
what is the power of that of Easter message
what did you here?
Why do we come here at all.
What were you looking for?
Why does this touch us..?
Why is the church and Christianity even here?
How about this:---- in some deep way
we know...that this is just so true.
You cant get at it .rationally or scientifically.
.but it has
truth..
you know there is some spiritual power in that message
I think you’re here
because you really want to believe it somehow
it calls you
and you want it to get inside of you
and you want it to change you
you need this message of life and hope.
somehow you want it ...to raise you up.....
And that’s right
it’s the right desire....so pay attention to it.
Some of the great spiritual leaders of the church
called it the deepest desire.
.the holy hunger inside of you..
And Easter ...can take you to that spiritual life force.
If you look at how the early Church understood the resurrection
.they saw it as a renewing..and world changing power.
It was not just an idea or a creed
It was a spiritual reality
.Divine power. Life in Christ..the redemptive power..salvation was at work..
it is something
that still goes to work in us
the work in Christ.
it is the overturing of sin and death.
.in all its forms.
it changes us..
somehow
it raises us up also
Christ is also risen in us..
st Paul says in Colosians 3
that we too
are raised with him now.. to a new kind of life
This is not just a Holiday
or just a doctrine ..for the afterlife
but it is the redeemed life.. ..working in us..now....for this life..
..
it is the heavenly power to live
in a new way.
.it is a sprit of Christ..that is still alive
(are you with me?)
it is something to live by..
Easter is our way of Living in Jesus Christ.
* A heard a story about a teenager named Marcia
when she was young Marcia loved to dance.
So When Marcia was sixteen
her parents gave her dance lessons at the Martha Graham Dance Studio
in New York City.
Now this was a big thing..
If you don’t know who Martha Graham, was
she was a creative pioneer
maybe you could call her the Picasso of the dance world
she introduced a whole new style of contemporary dance
Anyway
Marcia’s parents signed her up for lessons
three nights a week.
One night
when Marcia going was going to her class,
she opened up the door,
but it was the wrong door,
so when she looked in
she could see these very professional dancers
they were dancing at a very high level of mastery.
She realized,
this was Martha Graham's personal company.
This was the top class and the inner circle of it all.
It was wonderful.
Her heart was pounding just to see this and be that close
so She decided to stay
just inside the door
and watch.
Two nights later when she went to her class,
she said to herself,
"I wonder?"
She opened up the same wrong door and she found that same company in there dancing again.
This time she snuck into the back of the room
just to watch.
But As they went through their dance routines,
she started to move with them
as they were practicing.
Week after week,
that is what she did,
she didn’t tell anybody
She cut off her leotard at the ankle
just like they did;
for weeks in a row
she danced at the back of the room
no one said anything to her
But one night
while they were in the middle of rehearsal
the door to the middle of the room opened
and in walked Martha Graham herself.
She was dressed in purple except for some long white gloves
She looked at the dancers and said,
"Group in threes and move across the floor.
Show me your exercises."
Marcia just stared at Martha Graham. This was like seeing the Wizard of Oz.
And the next moment
all of a sudden she realized
that every dancer was now on the other side of the room,
and she was all alone
and visible.
Martha Graham looked at her,
and of course
Martha Graham knew she did not have a sixteen year old in her company.
But she
said to her,
"Move across the floor.
Do the exercises."
Marcia thought to herself,
"I have two choices.
I can say,
‘I can't do this
I'm a fraud.
I’m just a kid;
can't you tell I'm just a kid?
I can't do this;
I'm sorry;
I've lied by being in here;
I'll apologize;
I'll get my parents to reimburse anything;
but I can't,
I'm a fake. I'm out of here.’"
Or,
she thought to herself,
I could reach deep down inside of me,
and with everything I am,
I could live this moment.
I could just dance.
I could just become dance."
She decided to dance
She said that to this day
she still does not
remember crossing that room.
But the experience
was like
being ...a beam of
light.
Everything in her
was living her life
at that moment
-- the melody was carrying her, the love was carrying her.
She trusted the power and the movement of the dance
She got to the other side of the room,
and she remembered again
how afraid she was.
The dancers were positioned there
like dancers stand,
one hand on a hip,
so she got behind another dancer
she was wondering what was going to happen next.
And what she saw
was the finger of Martha Graham
beckoning her to come
to her.
This young woman stood before Martha Graham.
Years later
she remembered what Martha Graham said.
Martha Graham looked her right in the eye
and she said,
'Young woman.
There is no reason to live any moment of your
life
other than the way
you just crossed that floor."
Well ...that is also the story of our faith..
That is also the invitation of the resurrection
God is calling us to live this moment...
with everything we are.
We have been taken into a new dance company
so to speak..a new community..a new school ..a new Way...this Jesus Way
so now
Le the dance of resurrection fill you
go ahead and trust the Gospel of life
and move across the floor
Yes I know
can stay in the corner
locked in our fear
or we can live life
in hope,
carried
by love.
We can believe what we hear
Our Scripture said this morning that
the women ran from the tomb
with fear and great joy.
Filled with fear and with joy.
That is how life is,
isn’t it?
And there is plenty of things that would keep us afraid
I Don’t KNOW WHAT KEEPS you or a church
hiding AGAINST THE WALL....
.instead of moving out across the dance floor
it might be the cancer or some illness
maybe the economy
or the war ..or the news.
or the mortgage ..
or the school situation.
.
or the trouble at home.
.I don’t know
tombs come in a lot of ways..
Fear is always around..
But Resurrection happens.
In the Scripture this morning the angel says to the women,
"He is going before you to Galilee,... there you will see him."
Its as if
the angels
are saying to those women and to the disciples..
and to us..
go and move across the floor.
The invitation..
the call..the beckoning... is given
but You Make the decision .
.you can say
I don’t really belong here..
This is not for me.
I don’t deserve it..
and I cant trust this..
Or
you
take that leap of faith.
Again and again
.you can want it..and try it..
you can believe this ..
maybe that too
is a mixture of both fear and joy!
It sounds too good to be true..
.but .go back on the road..
..the scripture is saying
.go out there
and he will be there..
the gospel says
He will be there
and he will meet you
trust it
in verse 10
Jesus says it so clearly
Do not be afraid
maybe that is the mysterious power that pulls us here..
every year
and every Sunday
..the Easter Gospel
do not be afraid
do not be afraid of death
do not be afraid of the enemy
do not be afraid of your failure
do not be afraid of your shame
do not be afraid of your weakness
do not be afraid of the future..
do not be afraid..
of Gods love. and the vision of True Life.
move out of the fear.
.and move
more and more..into the joy of the dance
(Remember last week the choir sang.. Lord of the dance..)
And the dance goes on..
Christ is Risen
the impossible is happening
that means that you ..and
this church
can dream
and you can change
you can be more courageous
you can be more forgiving and joyful
you can be more graceful
you can be more generous.
you can be more prayerful and faithful.
.we can be peacemakers
and we can be people of the Risen Christ.
We can be the church
we can dance this life of incredible Love
ok
I know ..like Marcia in the back of the dance room
maybe you need to watch for awhile..
Learn a few moves..
Try it out. Imitate it ..
and be around out
..just be amazed to see what it can do..
But eventually.
.maybe right now..in some way
you can let it actually move you
..move us..carry us... inspire us
And there is absolutely no reason for you personally
..and for this congregation
to Not move ...faithfully....and joyfully
across the dance floor..of life
Jesus said do not be afraid.
Christ is risen...say it now..
Maybe this is the fist dance step..
Say Christ is Risen again..but this time..
say out loud to yourself
say it with your name...in the sentence..say it to your self..
as if God is saying it to you..
Rory
Christ is risen
Say it out loud.. All together with your own name it
....that was your invitation to dance
* The source for Martha Graham dance story is Martie McMane, senior pastor at First UCC in Boulder Colorado ..from one of her sermons printed on their website.www.firstcong.net. She says it was told to her by a friend. . I have adapted it.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Raising of Lazarus
PUMC John 11 Raising of Lazarus
This is one of the longest gospel lessons we will ever read.
.and I’m sure that it would be worth at least a dozen sermons
I’ve preached on it a few times already.
What do you need to hear..this morning; which sermon is the one for you today?
...I’m sure you all don’t answer that in the same way
for some of you this morning..
as you heard the lesson
this is another clear and direct word
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life
and I have spoken those words
somewhere
in just about every funeral service
and memorial service that I have ever done.
I believe these words
I need those words
I depend on these words for ministry
they are gospel to me
resurrection and life....
life that is stronger than death ......the gospel of hope in Jesus Christ
as you know... I said that Gospel again this week
as we gathered to remember Dorothy Little on Wed
I said these words of resurrection life again
on Thursday
as we said good bye to Dean Prushek
. This Lazarus lesson is another chance for us to tell some of the Easter story
with revelation and power of Jesus Christ
yes..we can come forth from the tombs
I could say amen......
and sit down
and I think you would say amen also.
That would be one sermon
......
Another sermon is in this image of Jesus who weeps with us..
And of course
we get the shortest verse in the bible
in the King James version its
Jesus wept
You all have that one memorized don’t you ?.
(I can teach it to you)
repeat after me
. John 11:35 Jesus wept.
.. Really its not a bad verse to memorize
Jesus weeps with us..
Why does he weep
he weeps ...because he sees our pain
he see our fear... he see our ignorance.
.he s see our struggles he sees our lack of understanding
for all these reasons and probably more
Jesus wept with compassion
will you let God do that with you...don’t deny it.
..but let God be there with you...
We don’t have some impersonal God who does not join us
in the human anguish
maybe that’s the message you need to hear this morning
God who grieves with you..and with this world
our God...enters the pain with us.
but
now this morning
I am looking at this strange part of the story
sometimes it bothers us
you know what it is
it’s the delay..
Its all over this story
. What do you do with it?
They send for Jesus
and he does Not come running
when he hears that Lazarus is ill.
Jesus doesn’t come right away to the rescue
and it is an issue
or a question at least in the story
And yo can hear that ,,
confusion
frustration. anger.. Maybe.
.or at least some disappointment..
With Martha in verse .. 21
she says
Lord if you had been here
my brother would not have died
..
As if to say
where were you.?
.why didn’t you do something
don’t you care about your friend..
don’t you love him..?
but this isn’t just a Martha’s feeling
because Mary also says the same thing
in verse 32
Lord I f you had been here
my brother would not have died.
And then later
some of them said
well if Jesus loved Lazarus so much.
.why did he let him die..
You see how this is being underscored..
this disappointing delay....
one more example
when Jesus tells them to roll away the stone
they say
on no there will be a stench
it has been four days
again
emphasizing
lord .. You made us wait..and now..its too late....
And course
as you heard from the story
Jesus does raise up Lazarus
and they are called to unbind him... and set him free
so...
Here’s want I want to spend time with this morning
Lets talk about the delay
on the surface..
it’s a way
of demonstrating the power.
and giving glory to God...
se how great this really is .......power and truth
.Lazarus is dead //Jesus says
and he was so dead.
.that it stank...
But even that condition
that much deadness could still be resurrected.....
now
back up on this other issue
what’s the spiritual lesson
I think its this
new spiritual life and faith
doesn’t just happen in an instant..
Well sometimes it does... in some ways .,,,I know that..
But that just is not the whole story
We have to deal .
.in our lives..
We have to deal with..what looks like a delay
sometimes
we are going to be spending time in the tomb..\
like Lazarus
in the cold dark times of the soul
sometimes
you are simply going to have to wait for the process of life to unfold
And in fact ..if you get the point of this story
the greater miracles happen
or get learned..
And discovered
revealed....by the waiting process..
time in the tomb..
that’s what makes this such a powerful story..it’s the delay..
The delay even shows the greater glory of God
But
we don’t get that part of the story very well
in fact We could even be accused of Ignoring that part.... Of the spiritual life
sometimes we make Christianity just sound like it s all quick and easy....
a little too easy..
Bill Meier who is at St Cloud now..
talks about a TV commercial that he saw for some big church in a city
the commercial shows the senior pastor walking along the shore of a
lake in a beautiful park.
He stops
looks into the camera and
then says,
“If you believe, anything is possible.”
then He starts to walk towards the water.
He steps into this shallow water
and you get idea that he’s going to walk on water
as a demonstration of faith.
You know if you believe.....anything is possible..
But then,
as he goes into the water.
you see that his expensive suit is going to be ruined
..he is not walking on water..
H’s getting wet
he finally stops
when the water is over his knees.
Then, he looks at the camera again
and he says,
“Perhaps
there’s more to it than that.
If this is where you are at,
we’ve got a place for you to grow in your faith...”
and then he gives his pitch for the church.
“Perhaps there’s more to it ..than that.”
This lesson
with the raising of Lazarus is also saying Perhaps there is more to it.
Jesus doesn’t do a long distance quick miracle resurrection
sometimes the journey of faith
makes us wait
until it seems too long ..and we go under.
Sometimes the change doesn’t come
until things really stink in the grave
so to speak.
we know ....what Mary and Martha feel like
Lord why did we have to wait ?!
why did it take so long
where were you....
.when we needed you
in the hospital..
in that misery...or in that doubt..in that problem..
have you been there,
Im thinking of all the psalms
that talk about having to wait..
Psalm 119 says How ,long must your servant wait.
Psalm 130 Out of the depths I cry for thee. O lord
I wait for the lord
my soul waits..
Why are those words in there..?
You can find those words again and again in the bible..
and I think this lesson
of Lazarus is an illustration of that waiting..and crying out in the depth..in the low dark times,,
maybe this story
allows us
to tell our stories ...that also feel like that.
We all know ...in some way or another...
that our faith is not just
as simple as walking on water in an instant.
in our believing..we are still going to get wet.
Sometimes
it is more complicated.
or confusing.
.or mysterious.
.and we end up .and wondering...
What next ...why..
and what now? When..when..
Have you ever felt like Lazarus in the tomb
or Mary and Martha.....left to grieve and wonder.
We need to be honest and truthful about that..
---------------------------------------
The book study retreat
that we have rescheduled with the Pums the church seniors group
is using Sue Monk Kidd’s book When the Heart Waits..
In the book
she uses the example of caterpillars and cocoons and butterflies
those are a old symbols for Easter and the soul and the spiritual transformation process.
You know that you cant just skip from caterpillar to butterfly
and she talks about how
that cocoon time
is just necessary
for the growth process
or the transformation process..
And she compare the cocoon time
to those times
when we are growing through change..
It is a process.
Cocoon time
is the waiting time..
The time when we are maybe vulnerable
or in the dark..scared,,,maybe stuck..
or feeling like we are in a tomb
and we are not in control
we are having to wait.
Its Biblical
she says
.look at the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days
kind of tomb or cocoon story
or the Hebrew people as slaves in Egypt
or 40 years...of wandering in the wilderness
or the time of the exile...
or even the stories of the beggars ..blind and
waiting along the side of the road..
..and even Jesus in the tomb ...three days
waiting
and one of the chapters has a very relevant message for us
she talks about the quick-aholic thinking that we have
in so much our faith and church..tall
She says we get caught up ‘Quickaholic Spirituality”
so we have to keep busy,
rush past our pains and doubts,
and we try to avoid our cocoon stages
she says
and I quote
"When it comes to religion today,
we tend to be long on butterflies and short on cocoons.
Somehow we're going to have to relearn that the deep things of God
don't come suddenly.
It's as if we imagine
that all of our spiritual growth potential is dehydrated contents
to which we need only add some holy water to make it instantly and easily appear." (p. 26)
Maybe Mary and Martha
represent that quickaholic thinking in the story..
Jesus fix it ...we prayed ...
quick now..
we have the faith
we are calling for you Lord..
We know you love us..
now what!
Lord if you had been here.
Sue Monk Kidd gives this example
.... .A 20 year old college student who came to see her in a crisis.
After years of denial,
this young woman was finally facing the realization
that she had been sexually abused as a child.
This whole thing of course
had her in a lot of pain and confusion
. As she told Sue Monk kid
that she already
"turned it over to Jesus" three weeks earlier.
She asked Jesus to heal her wounds,
take away her pain, and resolve her torment.
To put it simply
she wanted God to come with an eraser and make it go away.
God hadn't done that.
Kidd says
she could understand the urgency
that this person felt to have everything okay again.
But The college student said
"If I can't trust God now, when I need Him the most,
how can I ever trust Him again?"
this was causing a real faith crisis for her
“If not now,,how can I ever trust him again”
Sue Monks Kidd goes on to say.. It wasn't a matter of whether God could be trusted, but whether or not she could wait.
She didn't understand that there was a journey to be made here
. A waiting.
A gestating.
A slow and uncertain birthing.
That is where God would be found. Not in the erasing of the experience, but in the embracing of it.
Archbishop William Temple once said that one of the mistakes Christians are fond of making
is trying to be more spiritual than God..
. When Jesus was in pain,
he didn't try to squirm out of it. He embraced the pain. He let it happen. He experienced a sense of God's absence. He cried out "My God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me?"
What that college student didn’t know .at that time in her life
Was that to be spiritual is to confront our pain,
instead of just making an enemy out of it
When Jesus told us to love our enemies
, maybe he was also talking about our inner enemies too.
He knew that love was the only means by which to transform them.
...
Finally Kidd in her words again
says
How did we ever get the idea that God would supply us on demand
with quick fixes?
that God is merely a rescuer
and not a midwife? "
Can you see that same kind of lesson in Raising of Lazarus?
process .....time... time in the emptiness...in the pain
in the tomb
waiting ..transformation..
The longer time of trusting.
Yes the resurrection still comes
The calling forth still comes
the new life still comes.
.the unbinding and the setting free
but sometimes it doesn’t come until ..its almost seems too late.
Do you need to hear that part of the story today.///?
Maybe you have been struggling with something for years and years
or maybe just a few weeks or months..
Maybe your getting impatient..
About something in your life
and wondering if Jesus will ever show up
if the help will EVER happen
if you will get through IT
get free OF IT
and the problem will ever BE over
r..
I cant promise that it will be easy
/so maybe as a pastor and a s a church
we need to help each other
to wait
to listen
to be together.
.to feel with each other
to pray
and to be in silence
sometimes to share the grief
to share the dark...
to do what Jesus did
to weep
...to feel the situation..
And yes sometimes it will just plain stink as if its hopeless
Do you think we need to need to a better job of teaching this lesson
teaching people how to do this..
spiritual .waiting
.and trusting God in this kind of way..
Listening in our wounds.
.. Listening to God in the dark.....
.discovering God at those shadowy places of our lives..as well
can we .as the Gospel lesson says ,,,let that that too.. lead to the glory of god..
Of course
the waiting is not the only part of the story
because as I said...
When we think nothing can be done as if the problem and the grave
really is the last word.
.we still
can share the promise
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life..
Maybe its it s in the waiting...this long long
deep
waiting
that we really discover
the greatness of God....
Maybe after we have given up hope
.beyond what we thought was possible
we find ...
Resurrection can still happen..
I think that is the Lazarus lesson
............................
Sue Monk Kidd When the Heart Waits
This is one of the longest gospel lessons we will ever read.
.and I’m sure that it would be worth at least a dozen sermons
I’ve preached on it a few times already.
What do you need to hear..this morning; which sermon is the one for you today?
...I’m sure you all don’t answer that in the same way
for some of you this morning..
as you heard the lesson
this is another clear and direct word
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life
and I have spoken those words
somewhere
in just about every funeral service
and memorial service that I have ever done.
I believe these words
I need those words
I depend on these words for ministry
they are gospel to me
resurrection and life....
life that is stronger than death ......the gospel of hope in Jesus Christ
as you know... I said that Gospel again this week
as we gathered to remember Dorothy Little on Wed
I said these words of resurrection life again
on Thursday
as we said good bye to Dean Prushek
. This Lazarus lesson is another chance for us to tell some of the Easter story
with revelation and power of Jesus Christ
yes..we can come forth from the tombs
I could say amen......
and sit down
and I think you would say amen also.
That would be one sermon
......
Another sermon is in this image of Jesus who weeps with us..
And of course
we get the shortest verse in the bible
in the King James version its
Jesus wept
You all have that one memorized don’t you ?.
(I can teach it to you)
repeat after me
. John 11:35 Jesus wept.
.. Really its not a bad verse to memorize
Jesus weeps with us..
Why does he weep
he weeps ...because he sees our pain
he see our fear... he see our ignorance.
.he s see our struggles he sees our lack of understanding
for all these reasons and probably more
Jesus wept with compassion
will you let God do that with you...don’t deny it.
..but let God be there with you...
We don’t have some impersonal God who does not join us
in the human anguish
maybe that’s the message you need to hear this morning
God who grieves with you..and with this world
our God...enters the pain with us.
but
now this morning
I am looking at this strange part of the story
sometimes it bothers us
you know what it is
it’s the delay..
Its all over this story
. What do you do with it?
They send for Jesus
and he does Not come running
when he hears that Lazarus is ill.
Jesus doesn’t come right away to the rescue
and it is an issue
or a question at least in the story
And yo can hear that ,,
confusion
frustration. anger.. Maybe.
.or at least some disappointment..
With Martha in verse .. 21
she says
Lord if you had been here
my brother would not have died
..
As if to say
where were you.?
.why didn’t you do something
don’t you care about your friend..
don’t you love him..?
but this isn’t just a Martha’s feeling
because Mary also says the same thing
in verse 32
Lord I f you had been here
my brother would not have died.
And then later
some of them said
well if Jesus loved Lazarus so much.
.why did he let him die..
You see how this is being underscored..
this disappointing delay....
one more example
when Jesus tells them to roll away the stone
they say
on no there will be a stench
it has been four days
again
emphasizing
lord .. You made us wait..and now..its too late....
And course
as you heard from the story
Jesus does raise up Lazarus
and they are called to unbind him... and set him free
so...
Here’s want I want to spend time with this morning
Lets talk about the delay
on the surface..
it’s a way
of demonstrating the power.
and giving glory to God...
se how great this really is .......power and truth
.Lazarus is dead //Jesus says
and he was so dead.
.that it stank...
But even that condition
that much deadness could still be resurrected.....
now
back up on this other issue
what’s the spiritual lesson
I think its this
new spiritual life and faith
doesn’t just happen in an instant..
Well sometimes it does... in some ways .,,,I know that..
But that just is not the whole story
We have to deal .
.in our lives..
We have to deal with..what looks like a delay
sometimes
we are going to be spending time in the tomb..\
like Lazarus
in the cold dark times of the soul
sometimes
you are simply going to have to wait for the process of life to unfold
And in fact ..if you get the point of this story
the greater miracles happen
or get learned..
And discovered
revealed....by the waiting process..
time in the tomb..
that’s what makes this such a powerful story..it’s the delay..
The delay even shows the greater glory of God
But
we don’t get that part of the story very well
in fact We could even be accused of Ignoring that part.... Of the spiritual life
sometimes we make Christianity just sound like it s all quick and easy....
a little too easy..
Bill Meier who is at St Cloud now..
talks about a TV commercial that he saw for some big church in a city
the commercial shows the senior pastor walking along the shore of a
lake in a beautiful park.
He stops
looks into the camera and
then says,
“If you believe, anything is possible.”
then He starts to walk towards the water.
He steps into this shallow water
and you get idea that he’s going to walk on water
as a demonstration of faith.
You know if you believe.....anything is possible..
But then,
as he goes into the water.
you see that his expensive suit is going to be ruined
..he is not walking on water..
H’s getting wet
he finally stops
when the water is over his knees.
Then, he looks at the camera again
and he says,
“Perhaps
there’s more to it than that.
If this is where you are at,
we’ve got a place for you to grow in your faith...”
and then he gives his pitch for the church.
“Perhaps there’s more to it ..than that.”
This lesson
with the raising of Lazarus is also saying Perhaps there is more to it.
Jesus doesn’t do a long distance quick miracle resurrection
sometimes the journey of faith
makes us wait
until it seems too long ..and we go under.
Sometimes the change doesn’t come
until things really stink in the grave
so to speak.
we know ....what Mary and Martha feel like
Lord why did we have to wait ?!
why did it take so long
where were you....
.when we needed you
in the hospital..
in that misery...or in that doubt..in that problem..
have you been there,
Im thinking of all the psalms
that talk about having to wait..
Psalm 119 says How ,long must your servant wait.
Psalm 130 Out of the depths I cry for thee. O lord
I wait for the lord
my soul waits..
Why are those words in there..?
You can find those words again and again in the bible..
and I think this lesson
of Lazarus is an illustration of that waiting..and crying out in the depth..in the low dark times,,
maybe this story
allows us
to tell our stories ...that also feel like that.
We all know ...in some way or another...
that our faith is not just
as simple as walking on water in an instant.
in our believing..we are still going to get wet.
Sometimes
it is more complicated.
or confusing.
.or mysterious.
.and we end up .and wondering...
What next ...why..
and what now? When..when..
Have you ever felt like Lazarus in the tomb
or Mary and Martha.....left to grieve and wonder.
We need to be honest and truthful about that..
---------------------------------------
The book study retreat
that we have rescheduled with the Pums the church seniors group
is using Sue Monk Kidd’s book When the Heart Waits..
In the book
she uses the example of caterpillars and cocoons and butterflies
those are a old symbols for Easter and the soul and the spiritual transformation process.
You know that you cant just skip from caterpillar to butterfly
and she talks about how
that cocoon time
is just necessary
for the growth process
or the transformation process..
And she compare the cocoon time
to those times
when we are growing through change..
It is a process.
Cocoon time
is the waiting time..
The time when we are maybe vulnerable
or in the dark..scared,,,maybe stuck..
or feeling like we are in a tomb
and we are not in control
we are having to wait.
Its Biblical
she says
.look at the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days
kind of tomb or cocoon story
or the Hebrew people as slaves in Egypt
or 40 years...of wandering in the wilderness
or the time of the exile...
or even the stories of the beggars ..blind and
waiting along the side of the road..
..and even Jesus in the tomb ...three days
waiting
and one of the chapters has a very relevant message for us
she talks about the quick-aholic thinking that we have
in so much our faith and church..tall
She says we get caught up ‘Quickaholic Spirituality”
so we have to keep busy,
rush past our pains and doubts,
and we try to avoid our cocoon stages
she says
and I quote
"When it comes to religion today,
we tend to be long on butterflies and short on cocoons.
Somehow we're going to have to relearn that the deep things of God
don't come suddenly.
It's as if we imagine
that all of our spiritual growth potential is dehydrated contents
to which we need only add some holy water to make it instantly and easily appear." (p. 26)
Maybe Mary and Martha
represent that quickaholic thinking in the story..
Jesus fix it ...we prayed ...
quick now..
we have the faith
we are calling for you Lord..
We know you love us..
now what!
Lord if you had been here.
Sue Monk Kidd gives this example
.... .A 20 year old college student who came to see her in a crisis.
After years of denial,
this young woman was finally facing the realization
that she had been sexually abused as a child.
This whole thing of course
had her in a lot of pain and confusion
. As she told Sue Monk kid
that she already
"turned it over to Jesus" three weeks earlier.
She asked Jesus to heal her wounds,
take away her pain, and resolve her torment.
To put it simply
she wanted God to come with an eraser and make it go away.
God hadn't done that.
Kidd says
she could understand the urgency
that this person felt to have everything okay again.
But The college student said
"If I can't trust God now, when I need Him the most,
how can I ever trust Him again?"
this was causing a real faith crisis for her
“If not now,,how can I ever trust him again”
Sue Monks Kidd goes on to say.. It wasn't a matter of whether God could be trusted, but whether or not she could wait.
She didn't understand that there was a journey to be made here
. A waiting.
A gestating.
A slow and uncertain birthing.
That is where God would be found. Not in the erasing of the experience, but in the embracing of it.
Archbishop William Temple once said that one of the mistakes Christians are fond of making
is trying to be more spiritual than God..
. When Jesus was in pain,
he didn't try to squirm out of it. He embraced the pain. He let it happen. He experienced a sense of God's absence. He cried out "My God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me?"
What that college student didn’t know .at that time in her life
Was that to be spiritual is to confront our pain,
instead of just making an enemy out of it
When Jesus told us to love our enemies
, maybe he was also talking about our inner enemies too.
He knew that love was the only means by which to transform them.
...
Finally Kidd in her words again
says
How did we ever get the idea that God would supply us on demand
with quick fixes?
that God is merely a rescuer
and not a midwife? "
Can you see that same kind of lesson in Raising of Lazarus?
process .....time... time in the emptiness...in the pain
in the tomb
waiting ..transformation..
The longer time of trusting.
Yes the resurrection still comes
The calling forth still comes
the new life still comes.
.the unbinding and the setting free
but sometimes it doesn’t come until ..its almost seems too late.
Do you need to hear that part of the story today.///?
Maybe you have been struggling with something for years and years
or maybe just a few weeks or months..
Maybe your getting impatient..
About something in your life
and wondering if Jesus will ever show up
if the help will EVER happen
if you will get through IT
get free OF IT
and the problem will ever BE over
r..
I cant promise that it will be easy
/so maybe as a pastor and a s a church
we need to help each other
to wait
to listen
to be together.
.to feel with each other
to pray
and to be in silence
sometimes to share the grief
to share the dark...
to do what Jesus did
to weep
...to feel the situation..
And yes sometimes it will just plain stink as if its hopeless
Do you think we need to need to a better job of teaching this lesson
teaching people how to do this..
spiritual .waiting
.and trusting God in this kind of way..
Listening in our wounds.
.. Listening to God in the dark.....
.discovering God at those shadowy places of our lives..as well
can we .as the Gospel lesson says ,,,let that that too.. lead to the glory of god..
Of course
the waiting is not the only part of the story
because as I said...
When we think nothing can be done as if the problem and the grave
really is the last word.
.we still
can share the promise
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life..
Maybe its it s in the waiting...this long long
deep
waiting
that we really discover
the greatness of God....
Maybe after we have given up hope
.beyond what we thought was possible
we find ...
Resurrection can still happen..
I think that is the Lazarus lesson
............................
Sue Monk Kidd When the Heart Waits
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Blind to the Message John 9
Source note. Touching the Heart By William J Bausch p. 59
PUMC March 2 2008 Blind to the Message John 9 R Swenson PUMC
George Bernard Shaw said that the British and the Americans are "two nations separated by a common language".
I think that saying fits a lot of the conversations in johns Gospel.
You get the same words being used..
but they don’t mean the same thing to everybody in the conversation....
you get two people separated by a common language.
for example in the last Sundays we had Jesus talking to nichodemus
they are talking about being born again or born from above.. Nichodemus is thinking literally and physically
how can I be born again !!!
Jesus uses the same words "born again"
but he s not talking about anything literal or physical at all,,
same word
but a double meaning..
And the spiritual meaning is the message.
.the implication for us
is that we shouldn’t just be like Nichodomus..
h’s a scholar and a teacher.. thinking at the natural //intellectual..literal level of the world
last week
we had another example
the woman at the well
they are talking about water and thirst..
but the Samaritan woman is thinking H2 O And physical thirst..
She is thinking about this literally....or in the rational kind of way
because after all
Jesus wants drink
and they are standing by a well
but relay this all about that deeper meaning
and the inner well..
Spiritual water
living water
spiritual thirst..
Now
by now..
As readers of Johns Gospel
coming into the 9th chapter.
We are supposed to have this figured out.
We should have caught on by now..
..John is famous for these double meanings
in the stories s of Jesus .
.and the good stuff.
The important part..
.is in the second layer.,
in the symbolism.,
If you think on just the surface
if you think on just the literal level
if you think a storm is just a storm
and a physical healing is just a healing
and a cloud is just a cloud.
And a death is just a death..
.and so on..
you are going to miss the message
and you will miss the truth.
.
But to give us still another clue
John has a special way of telling us that we are supposed to go deeper in all these stories
healing stories
miracle stories
these object lessons
are called signs.. In johns gospel
he uses that word 17 times.
So this morning
in the story of the blind man
it is a sign for us.
as I said
by now
you gotta know that the physical healing
and the physical blindness is not the real point..
this is about getting your spiritual eyesight.
The blind man gets that
and so he is truly not blind
but the pharisees ...who have perfect physical eyesight.
.are blind
because they do not see who Jesus.
and they are blind to the message.
To .the revelation.. In this story.
Now here the important part for us
this is the interesting question
when you read these stories of Jesus
are you and I
still blind to the deeper kind of message
when you read the scriptures
can you do
what John wants you to do
and get the metaphor
and the symbolism
and the double meanings and the spiritual message carried in the words..
Are you with me..
we have to be interpreters..
Johns Gospel style is telling us that we have to become interpreters.
Now..let me underline that with a story to make my point.
One upon a time
there was a young king
who decided that it was time to find a bride.
Now this king was different
H e didn’t care if his bride was tall or thin .
.blonde or dark.
.but he wanted her to be intelligent..
.with a special kind of wisdom
so he decided to go traveling around in his kingdom
trying to find the most intelligent woman in the land.
He took off his royal robes
and put on the overcoat of a common peasant..
Disguised I suppose
as kings sometimes do.
He went off wandering around on the roads. From town to town .village to village
one day
as he was walking down a dusty road...
the king met an old man.
And since they were going in the same direction the kind said Grandfather where are you going
the old man gave the name of the town
just down the road
and since the king was going that way as well
they got to taking
and very soon the king said to the old man
Grandfather
should I carry you
or should you carry me?
"My what a strange question" the old man said to himself
this traveler must be crazy Im not going to answer him.
And so the old man didn’t say a thing.
He just walked a little faster.
The king didn’t say anything either.
But then they came to large field
and they could see these ripe heads of grain.
Grandfather.the king said again to the old man..
As he stopped to look at the field
Do you think that grain is already eaten or not?
Already eaten or not
What kind of a question is that
this man is truly crazy.
What nonsense is he talking..... I am not going to answer him.
Th older man shut his mouth tight
and would not even look at the this traveler with him along the road..
He just walked faster.
The king kept up with him..walking without a word.
Finally they came to the walls of the city..
But they couldn’t go into the gates right then
because a funeral procession was going by.
Grandfather, the king said..
Do you think the man in the coffin is alive or dead?
Now the old man was again thinking to himself..this fellow is not to be talked with.
Another foolish question
.so he turned to the younger man
and said
"Thank you for your company along the way
but this is my town and I am going home now.
"Thank you for your company’, the king said..
"But don’t forget to knock on the door first
before you go into your house."
‘Knock on my own front door."
the old man was just fuming.
. Knock on my own front door.
I don’t need to do something like that!
By the time the old man got to his house
he was so upset
that he threw open the front door to his house.
.stormed through the doorway
and as he did that.
.he knocked his daughter down to the floor.
Oh daughter,,, he said.
.I am so sorry
I guess I should have knocked
I should have listened to what that young man said..
.but everything he said...was such nonsense.
Father ....slow down..calm yourself.
What young man./
What nonsense?
..The young man I traveled with along the road.
You will never believe the ridiculous questions he was asking me.
Tell me father..said the daughter..
tell me what he said.
First he said to me,
"Grandfather
should I carry you, or will you carry me?
Now what kind of a question is that?
I am not so old that he has to carry me?
And he wasn’t so young that I had to carry him..
Both of us could walk just fine.
‘O father" the daughter said,,
that s not What he meant at all.
He wanted to ask you..... if he should tell you a story..
or if you would tell him one?
The journey is so much shorter when you’re listening to stories
it is the storyteller who carries the listener...that what he meant
oh... said the old man,,
maybe that is what he meant
but that doesn’t explain the next question:
we came by a field of grain.
.and he wanted to know if the grain was already eaten or not?
Now what kind of a question is that..?
We could see the grain right there in the field.
Oh father said the daughter..
What he was talking about;
was whether you thought the owner of the field had already sold the crop
or not..
If he had already sold the crop and spent the money..
it would be the same
as if the grain had already been eaten.
Oh daughter I see..what you mean
But you cant explain the last question.
We waited for a funeral to pass by..
And he wanted to know if the man in the coffin was dead or alive.
..Isn’t that a bunch of nonsense.
Father think about this.., the daughter said
He was asking you if the man inside the coffin had any children.
Because if the man had children in his family line ....then was living on.. If not. Then he was truly dead.
Oh daughter I’ve been so foolish
I think I should go back and find that t young man and apologize.
So the king went back
and looked around the town until he found the king who was still wearing a disguise.
I am so sorry ..,
He said, Now I understand what you were asking me.
Please come and have dinner with me.
But the king had another question
who helped you to understand/
it was my daughter,,,
now please come back to my house with me..
They got to the old mans house just as the meal was ready
the young man sat down at the table with the older man
and his wife
while the daughter came to the table with platter full of roasted chicken
Because the young man was a guest
..she put the platter in front of him
and asked him to carve the chicken.
And so that is What he did.
He gave the drumstick to the wife
he gave the daughter ..the wings..
And to the old man he gave the back and the neck.
When the old man looked at his plate and saw the scrawny neck and the head of the chicken he got angry
his face turned red
and he stood up to yell when his daughter gently put her hand on his shoulder.
Father
its alright
the young man carved the chicken very well.
He gave the drumsticks to mother
because she is always standing and working
he gave me the wings because one day soon
I will marry and fly way form home
he gave you the head and the neck
because you’re the head of the household
he kept the rest for himself
because there was no one else to share with.
When the king heard this..
He realized that he had found the very clever women he had been searching for.
He asked the father if he could marry her.
The father looked to his daughter to see if this was her wish
she nodded her head.. Yes it was.
It was then that king took off his disguise
and the daughter realized that she would become the queen.
now that is a very old story from Persia
to our modern western ears
it a strange and charming little story
but our minds
and our ears
are years away from the mentality, that formed that story
we are more like the grandfather who took everything so literally
it is hard for us to appreciate a culture
that so easily accepted symbolism and metaphor
..images and hidden meanings.
The idea that language might say..more than it says..
Is something we know about in other areas of literature.. Art and poetry and theater.
. But why then
do we seem to forget that when we come to the bible.
But that is the kind of world that gave us the Bible..
and that is the kind of story telling and teaching that Jesus gave us..
It is exactly the kind of world that we get in Johns gospel..
And it is essential
that we learn how to be more like the daughter
with the ability to listen to the bible stories.
.listen to the words and ideas....
and to go deeper than the surface.
.to go deeper into the meaning.
Now
sometimes
that means that we have to learn the expression of that time and place
the old sayings of the Palestinian world from the first century
don’t always translate with the same meaning today
but even more important
..is the interpretation into the spiritual insight./////.the seeing..
The scripture lesson this morning is a good example
this is about two different kinds of blindness
and different kinds of seeing and being in the light..
If you just think this as story about a man being physically healed of blindness..
You really are blind to the big picture of the story
you don’t need to try and figure out medically..
or scientifically
. how Jesus did this miracle .....but I’ve been in few Bible studies where I had people trying to do exactly that!
But that’s that the foolish part of this long conversation.
That’s what the pharisees are trying to do!
.all this interrogating that they are putting this man through!
Trying to see if this really happened...and figure it out
.we don’t need to interrogate and examine..the story and try to figure out if its real..
and say how did Jesus do that!
It’s a sign !
Its an illustration..a symbol..
spiritual eyesight.. Into the revelation of God in Jesus Christ
You see how the scriptures in John themselves
are kind of like the story
about the king and the old man and the daughter.. ?
In John 16:26
Jesus says
I have told you these these things in figures of speech..
Hear that? "figures of speech.."
figurative language..Images,,
symbols ,,metaphors,,
like sheep and vines..and branches..flesh and body... And light and water..and bread.
and then
he goes on to say that you need to understand those things
through the Holy spirit.
.with prayer..with spiritual interpration
Not with the rational intellect of the head
but the heart..
...listening and interpreting at a spiritual level.
Now as I said..
I think it’s a serious problem for us in our head based .
.intellectually based..
science minded..
Literal kind of reading...
Lots of people
try to read the bible that way,
and they don’t believe the bible or Christianity
.because it looks like non sense to them
... they cant figure it out?
but its not just a modern problem
St Augustine
the great theologian and bishop from the 4th century...
Three hundreds years after the time of Jesus
he was trying to understand the scriptures..
Augustine was smart man ..with a great classical education
but he went to Bishop Ambrose
and told him
that he thought the Bible was inferior literature..
he wasn’t impressed.
But Ambrose said to him
You young fool..
You cant get it,
because when you read the bible a bout fish..
You think fish....
when you read Bread.
.you think bread..
Ambrose..had to explain the meanings
Told him
that he could not just go with the surface meanings..
Well
we still have people making that mistake to day...
. how blind are we when we read the scriptures
..
or do we listen to the holy Spirt
and get down
To the spiritual level that feeds our faith
down in the heart and the soul.
.where believing really happens
---------------------------------------------------
This morning we are celebrating a baptism
Does it look like we are saying some words and putting some water on little Coopers head..
but if you ve got your spiritual eyes and ears open you
will see so much more..
Its not just water .
.and it s not just a ritual
that we do...
but its giving Cooper publicly
into the path of God
the love of God..is his gift.
..and the presence of God
somehow at work
its not just water..
but it’s the living water
and the life of God
and the cleansing
and the renewing
and the washing of Gods spirit
it’s the new ....regenerative.. life of Jesus Christ
or in terms of the Gospel lesson today
we pray
that the muddy or earthly human blindness
that we are all born with.
(Yes.. .we are all the man who is born blind..)
But the sign of baptism.
. Is That the darkness.
.and the blindness..
will be washed away from our eyes ..
by Jesus Christ
so that we can see Jesus ..as the Christ..
and we can see the truth. ..
We pray that Cooper.. will grow to see the light..
And as we do that
I would also ask you today
what do you see
..
FOR 11:15 only,,,,,,This morning in the sacrament of Holy Communion..
we have another example of this symbolic meaning and metaphor..
Jesus himself said it..its not just t bread
its not just fruit of the vine..
Its his life
his body
his blood
his love his forgiveness..
Present with us
Your physical eyes
are not going to be able to see that.///
. But in the light of Jesus
we can see the sacrificial and redemptive. gift of God
What do you see.. This morning.. .
PUMC March 2 2008 Blind to the Message John 9 R Swenson PUMC
George Bernard Shaw said that the British and the Americans are "two nations separated by a common language".
I think that saying fits a lot of the conversations in johns Gospel.
You get the same words being used..
but they don’t mean the same thing to everybody in the conversation....
you get two people separated by a common language.
for example in the last Sundays we had Jesus talking to nichodemus
they are talking about being born again or born from above.. Nichodemus is thinking literally and physically
how can I be born again !!!
Jesus uses the same words "born again"
but he s not talking about anything literal or physical at all,,
same word
but a double meaning..
And the spiritual meaning is the message.
.the implication for us
is that we shouldn’t just be like Nichodomus..
h’s a scholar and a teacher.. thinking at the natural //intellectual..literal level of the world
last week
we had another example
the woman at the well
they are talking about water and thirst..
but the Samaritan woman is thinking H2 O And physical thirst..
She is thinking about this literally....or in the rational kind of way
because after all
Jesus wants drink
and they are standing by a well
but relay this all about that deeper meaning
and the inner well..
Spiritual water
living water
spiritual thirst..
Now
by now..
As readers of Johns Gospel
coming into the 9th chapter.
We are supposed to have this figured out.
We should have caught on by now..
..John is famous for these double meanings
in the stories s of Jesus .
.and the good stuff.
The important part..
.is in the second layer.,
in the symbolism.,
If you think on just the surface
if you think on just the literal level
if you think a storm is just a storm
and a physical healing is just a healing
and a cloud is just a cloud.
And a death is just a death..
.and so on..
you are going to miss the message
and you will miss the truth.
.
But to give us still another clue
John has a special way of telling us that we are supposed to go deeper in all these stories
healing stories
miracle stories
these object lessons
are called signs.. In johns gospel
he uses that word 17 times.
So this morning
in the story of the blind man
it is a sign for us.
as I said
by now
you gotta know that the physical healing
and the physical blindness is not the real point..
this is about getting your spiritual eyesight.
The blind man gets that
and so he is truly not blind
but the pharisees ...who have perfect physical eyesight.
.are blind
because they do not see who Jesus.
and they are blind to the message.
To .the revelation.. In this story.
Now here the important part for us
this is the interesting question
when you read these stories of Jesus
are you and I
still blind to the deeper kind of message
when you read the scriptures
can you do
what John wants you to do
and get the metaphor
and the symbolism
and the double meanings and the spiritual message carried in the words..
Are you with me..
we have to be interpreters..
Johns Gospel style is telling us that we have to become interpreters.
Now..let me underline that with a story to make my point.
One upon a time
there was a young king
who decided that it was time to find a bride.
Now this king was different
H e didn’t care if his bride was tall or thin .
.blonde or dark.
.but he wanted her to be intelligent..
.with a special kind of wisdom
so he decided to go traveling around in his kingdom
trying to find the most intelligent woman in the land.
He took off his royal robes
and put on the overcoat of a common peasant..
Disguised I suppose
as kings sometimes do.
He went off wandering around on the roads. From town to town .village to village
one day
as he was walking down a dusty road...
the king met an old man.
And since they were going in the same direction the kind said Grandfather where are you going
the old man gave the name of the town
just down the road
and since the king was going that way as well
they got to taking
and very soon the king said to the old man
Grandfather
should I carry you
or should you carry me?
"My what a strange question" the old man said to himself
this traveler must be crazy Im not going to answer him.
And so the old man didn’t say a thing.
He just walked a little faster.
The king didn’t say anything either.
But then they came to large field
and they could see these ripe heads of grain.
Grandfather.the king said again to the old man..
As he stopped to look at the field
Do you think that grain is already eaten or not?
Already eaten or not
What kind of a question is that
this man is truly crazy.
What nonsense is he talking..... I am not going to answer him.
Th older man shut his mouth tight
and would not even look at the this traveler with him along the road..
He just walked faster.
The king kept up with him..walking without a word.
Finally they came to the walls of the city..
But they couldn’t go into the gates right then
because a funeral procession was going by.
Grandfather, the king said..
Do you think the man in the coffin is alive or dead?
Now the old man was again thinking to himself..this fellow is not to be talked with.
Another foolish question
.so he turned to the younger man
and said
"Thank you for your company along the way
but this is my town and I am going home now.
"Thank you for your company’, the king said..
"But don’t forget to knock on the door first
before you go into your house."
‘Knock on my own front door."
the old man was just fuming.
. Knock on my own front door.
I don’t need to do something like that!
By the time the old man got to his house
he was so upset
that he threw open the front door to his house.
.stormed through the doorway
and as he did that.
.he knocked his daughter down to the floor.
Oh daughter,,, he said.
.I am so sorry
I guess I should have knocked
I should have listened to what that young man said..
.but everything he said...was such nonsense.
Father ....slow down..calm yourself.
What young man./
What nonsense?
..The young man I traveled with along the road.
You will never believe the ridiculous questions he was asking me.
Tell me father..said the daughter..
tell me what he said.
First he said to me,
"Grandfather
should I carry you, or will you carry me?
Now what kind of a question is that?
I am not so old that he has to carry me?
And he wasn’t so young that I had to carry him..
Both of us could walk just fine.
‘O father" the daughter said,,
that s not What he meant at all.
He wanted to ask you..... if he should tell you a story..
or if you would tell him one?
The journey is so much shorter when you’re listening to stories
it is the storyteller who carries the listener...that what he meant
oh... said the old man,,
maybe that is what he meant
but that doesn’t explain the next question:
we came by a field of grain.
.and he wanted to know if the grain was already eaten or not?
Now what kind of a question is that..?
We could see the grain right there in the field.
Oh father said the daughter..
What he was talking about;
was whether you thought the owner of the field had already sold the crop
or not..
If he had already sold the crop and spent the money..
it would be the same
as if the grain had already been eaten.
Oh daughter I see..what you mean
But you cant explain the last question.
We waited for a funeral to pass by..
And he wanted to know if the man in the coffin was dead or alive.
..Isn’t that a bunch of nonsense.
Father think about this.., the daughter said
He was asking you if the man inside the coffin had any children.
Because if the man had children in his family line ....then was living on.. If not. Then he was truly dead.
Oh daughter I’ve been so foolish
I think I should go back and find that t young man and apologize.
So the king went back
and looked around the town until he found the king who was still wearing a disguise.
I am so sorry ..,
He said, Now I understand what you were asking me.
Please come and have dinner with me.
But the king had another question
who helped you to understand/
it was my daughter,,,
now please come back to my house with me..
They got to the old mans house just as the meal was ready
the young man sat down at the table with the older man
and his wife
while the daughter came to the table with platter full of roasted chicken
Because the young man was a guest
..she put the platter in front of him
and asked him to carve the chicken.
And so that is What he did.
He gave the drumstick to the wife
he gave the daughter ..the wings..
And to the old man he gave the back and the neck.
When the old man looked at his plate and saw the scrawny neck and the head of the chicken he got angry
his face turned red
and he stood up to yell when his daughter gently put her hand on his shoulder.
Father
its alright
the young man carved the chicken very well.
He gave the drumsticks to mother
because she is always standing and working
he gave me the wings because one day soon
I will marry and fly way form home
he gave you the head and the neck
because you’re the head of the household
he kept the rest for himself
because there was no one else to share with.
When the king heard this..
He realized that he had found the very clever women he had been searching for.
He asked the father if he could marry her.
The father looked to his daughter to see if this was her wish
she nodded her head.. Yes it was.
It was then that king took off his disguise
and the daughter realized that she would become the queen.
now that is a very old story from Persia
to our modern western ears
it a strange and charming little story
but our minds
and our ears
are years away from the mentality, that formed that story
we are more like the grandfather who took everything so literally
it is hard for us to appreciate a culture
that so easily accepted symbolism and metaphor
..images and hidden meanings.
The idea that language might say..more than it says..
Is something we know about in other areas of literature.. Art and poetry and theater.
. But why then
do we seem to forget that when we come to the bible.
But that is the kind of world that gave us the Bible..
and that is the kind of story telling and teaching that Jesus gave us..
It is exactly the kind of world that we get in Johns gospel..
And it is essential
that we learn how to be more like the daughter
with the ability to listen to the bible stories.
.listen to the words and ideas....
and to go deeper than the surface.
.to go deeper into the meaning.
Now
sometimes
that means that we have to learn the expression of that time and place
the old sayings of the Palestinian world from the first century
don’t always translate with the same meaning today
but even more important
..is the interpretation into the spiritual insight./////.the seeing..
The scripture lesson this morning is a good example
this is about two different kinds of blindness
and different kinds of seeing and being in the light..
If you just think this as story about a man being physically healed of blindness..
You really are blind to the big picture of the story
you don’t need to try and figure out medically..
or scientifically
. how Jesus did this miracle .....but I’ve been in few Bible studies where I had people trying to do exactly that!
But that’s that the foolish part of this long conversation.
That’s what the pharisees are trying to do!
.all this interrogating that they are putting this man through!
Trying to see if this really happened...and figure it out
.we don’t need to interrogate and examine..the story and try to figure out if its real..
and say how did Jesus do that!
It’s a sign !
Its an illustration..a symbol..
spiritual eyesight.. Into the revelation of God in Jesus Christ
You see how the scriptures in John themselves
are kind of like the story
about the king and the old man and the daughter.. ?
In John 16:26
Jesus says
I have told you these these things in figures of speech..
Hear that? "figures of speech.."
figurative language..Images,,
symbols ,,metaphors,,
like sheep and vines..and branches..flesh and body... And light and water..and bread.
and then
he goes on to say that you need to understand those things
through the Holy spirit.
.with prayer..with spiritual interpration
Not with the rational intellect of the head
but the heart..
...listening and interpreting at a spiritual level.
Now as I said..
I think it’s a serious problem for us in our head based .
.intellectually based..
science minded..
Literal kind of reading...
Lots of people
try to read the bible that way,
and they don’t believe the bible or Christianity
.because it looks like non sense to them
... they cant figure it out?
but its not just a modern problem
St Augustine
the great theologian and bishop from the 4th century...
Three hundreds years after the time of Jesus
he was trying to understand the scriptures..
Augustine was smart man ..with a great classical education
but he went to Bishop Ambrose
and told him
that he thought the Bible was inferior literature..
he wasn’t impressed.
But Ambrose said to him
You young fool..
You cant get it,
because when you read the bible a bout fish..
You think fish....
when you read Bread.
.you think bread..
Ambrose..had to explain the meanings
Told him
that he could not just go with the surface meanings..
Well
we still have people making that mistake to day...
. how blind are we when we read the scriptures
..
or do we listen to the holy Spirt
and get down
To the spiritual level that feeds our faith
down in the heart and the soul.
.where believing really happens
---------------------------------------------------
This morning we are celebrating a baptism
Does it look like we are saying some words and putting some water on little Coopers head..
but if you ve got your spiritual eyes and ears open you
will see so much more..
Its not just water .
.and it s not just a ritual
that we do...
but its giving Cooper publicly
into the path of God
the love of God..is his gift.
..and the presence of God
somehow at work
its not just water..
but it’s the living water
and the life of God
and the cleansing
and the renewing
and the washing of Gods spirit
it’s the new ....regenerative.. life of Jesus Christ
or in terms of the Gospel lesson today
we pray
that the muddy or earthly human blindness
that we are all born with.
(Yes.. .we are all the man who is born blind..)
But the sign of baptism.
. Is That the darkness.
.and the blindness..
will be washed away from our eyes ..
by Jesus Christ
so that we can see Jesus ..as the Christ..
and we can see the truth. ..
We pray that Cooper.. will grow to see the light..
And as we do that
I would also ask you today
what do you see
..
FOR 11:15 only,,,,,,This morning in the sacrament of Holy Communion..
we have another example of this symbolic meaning and metaphor..
Jesus himself said it..its not just t bread
its not just fruit of the vine..
Its his life
his body
his blood
his love his forgiveness..
Present with us
Your physical eyes
are not going to be able to see that.///
. But in the light of Jesus
we can see the sacrificial and redemptive. gift of God
What do you see.. This morning.. .
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